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Sadé Lawrence T'18

I am passionate about people, their development, and the role they play in organizations. You can have a great business strategy, but if you don’t have the right people and the right infrastructure in place to support those people, then your strategy falls apart.

I knew coming in to Tuck that I wanted to focus on human capital. I’m someone who enjoys engaging with people from different backgrounds and parts of the world. In my professional career, I was taking on more internationally and globally focused work, and I was looking for a way to bring together all the different experiences I had.Getting an MBA gave me the opportunity to do that and to step back and dream a little bigger.

Tuck is unique because the school gives students an individualized and personalized experience. The faculty and staff are incredibly supportive. When I was choosing an MBA program, it was important for me to be in a place with strong values around community. I wanted to be at a school where people help each other out and care about getting to know you. I’ve always felt supported, even from the very beginning during my application process when I connected with senior admissions director Amy Mitson. She knew my name from day one. I am both an individual with my own goals and also a part of a community greater than myself. That’s what makes Tuck special.

Tuck has given me the opportunity to have hands-on experiences that I’ll be able to apply in my career. Toward the end of my first year, I planned the leadership development programming for the orientation program for incoming students. It gave me the opportunity to lead a team and design a unique peer-focused experience, which was incredibly valuable for me, as someone who is interested in individual and organizational development.

My goal with designing the orientation experience was to create a vulnerability that would make it easier for students to have honest conversations while working with each other. Tuckies are known for being great at working with people, and a lot of that is because of our study group experience. You can have a group that meshes incredible well, but if it doesn’t, you still have to work through it. In some of my study groups, there were moments where I wished I would have had the communication skills or courage to work through certain conversations sooner. I wanted to facilitate an environment that would support this dialogue for our first-year students. I was
able to continue this work as a Center for Leadership Fellow, where I supported first-year study groups on their transition to business school and facilitated leadership assessments.

Classes tackle real-world situations you grapple with in business. I took “Negotiations” with Daniel Feiler, who was incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. He made it fun and interesting for us. Among the many traditional elements of negotiations, we also had meaningful discussions about the challenges presented by gender and racial dynamics and how they may influence negotiations and other business interactions. The class was not only informative, but relevant and timely.

Another highlight was “Communicating with Presence” with James Rice, who’s a professor in Dartmouth’s theater department. It was phenomenal. The class was more about how to get in touch with who you are as a person, your values and how to make sense of your story and your experiences. Doing so is what allows you to be authentic. When you can deliver that to your audience, that’s the essence of presence. On a practical level, the reality is that everyone gets nervous and is afraid of making a mistake when giving a presentation, but there’s an entire toolkit that actors and actresses have been using forever that can also be used to manage a fear of public speaking.

I love to travel and working abroad is definitely a goal for me. I did myGlobal Insight Expedition in Vietnam. What we hear about Vietnam is still so much through the lens of the war, and I wanted a first-hand understanding of the country and its evolving relationship with the United States. Vietnam is also a bit of a paradox because it’s still a Communist country, but in many ways its economy and markets look different from what you’d expect from a Communist institution.

I knew coming out of Tuck that I wanted to work for a large global organization in an effort to continue learning about different countries and markets.I’m starting off in an HR rotation program at Ecolab, which has offices all over the world. I’ll have an opportunity to get involved in the global talent development space as the organization continues to focus on career development and leadership readiness.

Leaving Tuck, I feel solidly that you can make a positive impact on the world through business, which is increasingly becoming its own language of communication. There’s a growing involvement of business leaders in politics and social matters and possessing this language can be a powerful tool to change the world. I felt confident coming in, but now I feel even more empowered to tackle challenging problems and own my journey. During my time here, I’m proud of having developed a definition of success that is built upon my core values and unique qualities and that integrates my personal and professional passions.

Experiential Learning

First-Year Project supporting the design and launch of a women’s health medical device; Personal Leadership Initiative; Allwin Community Outreach Day

Global Experience

Global Insight Expedition to Vietnam with Professors Curt Welling and Edward Miller; Student treks to Israel and Cuba; Prior to Tuck, several global engagement with Vanguard in Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom

Summer Internship

Key Tuck Electives

Negotiations with Daniel Feiler; Communicating with Presence with James Rice; Management Communication and Advanced Management Communication with Julie Lang and Courtney Pierson; Multichannel Route to Market with Kusum Ailawadi; and Leadership Out of the Box with Ella L. J. Bell Smith

Key Tuck Encounters

Amy Mitson, who supported my candidacy to Tuck from the very beginning; Paul Doscher who stopped me in the hallway on the day of my interview to share words of encouragement; and Prof. Ella Bell who constantly reminds me to remember and take care of myself on the journey of professional success.

After Tuck

Ecolab, HR Manager, Global Talent and Organizational Development

My Tuck Transformation

I came tuck with a wide array of experiences and skills, but unsure of how they all fit and how I could harness them to have maximum impact. Tuck gave me the space to dream big, try new things, and think deeply about what I want for my life and how I want to show up in the world. I leave here more certain that I am capable of thriving in a rapidly changing and uncertain landscape, and am part of a special community committed to that goal.